School Education Saga-XVI: NAS is not Khas? UDISE+ findings given a go-by?

Hyderabad: Is the Telangana government devising its policies on school education and not heeding what the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) findings? Is it not giving importance to learning outcomes as much as it's focussed on construction of new school buildings and on English medium schooling?

These questions assume significance following the two NAS surveys of 2017 and 2021. The NAS-2017 had conducted its survey considering Classes III, V and VIII. The NAS-2021 has gone a step forward and conducted a survey in all the states in the country, considering the learning outcomes and achievements of students studying in Classes III, V, VIII and X.

The NAS-2017 claims that 85 per cent of children in Class III, 88 per cent in Class V and 89 per cent in Class VIII could understand what the teacher says in the classroom. The co-relation to the above is that 67 per cent of students in Class III, 65 per cent in Class V and 57 per cent in Class VIII use the language at home, and the language teachers use in the classrooms are the same.

The NAS-2021 also presents a similar picture that 77 per cent of children of Class III said that they understand what their teachers say 92 per cent, as the instruction of the medium was done in their home language in the classroom. Similarly, 69 per cent of the Class V students said that they understand 93 per cent of what their teachers teach, since it is the same as their home language. Students, 95 per cent of them from Classes VIII and 69 per cent from Class X, have expressed similar views that they understand what their teachers teach since the language is the same as their home language.